The More Things Change…

I finally got tired of paying way too much for cable TV (and satellite before that) and cut the cable. After all, we don’t watch TV often, and when we did, only a handful of channels held any interest.

That’s when I discovered the far better (for us) variety on YouTube. I’ve subscribed to about 25 different channels, most of which involve hiking or travel. A few are ministry related.

One unique channel we’ve come to enjoy is “Recollection Road: Stories of American Life,” which hosts dozens of videos—all under 10 minutes in length—of life in the 20^th century. Most, it seems, cover the 1960s and 70s. Those are the ones that grab our attention. It’s amazing some of the topics they’ve come up with! This is but a small sample:

• If You Grew Up in the 1970s…You Remember This
• Christmas in the 1970s
• 12 Things Gone Forever…1970s
• Insane Products…1970s
• Mall Stores That Have Disappeared…for Good
• You Might Be OLD…if You Remember These!
• Forgotten Objects in EVERY 1970s Kitchen
• The 1960s in Color
• Summer Roadtrips…1960s
• The Danger and Fun of Growing Up

Obviously, you can’t watch these snapshots from the past without realizing how much things have changed in the past six decades. And that elicits a variety of responses!

Some leave you a bit melancholy because of a strange sense of loss. For example, one episode referred to the Woolworth’s department stores with their popular lunch counters.

It reminded me of my 6^th grade teacher, Mrs. Hughes, who took me and a couple of other students there for lunch at the end of the school year because we helped her pack up the classroom.

Another episode featured Farrell’s Ice Cream Parlour. A location at Woodfield Mall in Schaumburg, IL, was a favorite destination in my teen years.

The most memorable visit concerned a “kidnapping”! On our youth pastor’s birthday, a few of the teen guys disguised themselves with ski masks, etc., broke into his house (with his wife’s permission, of course), put a pillowcase over his head, tied him up, stuffed him in the backseat of the car, and drove 20 miles to Farrell’s where the rest of the youth group waited to sing him Happy Birthday! Poor guy almost died of a panic attack!

Anyway, those places are gone—along with a host of others.

Some episodes create a feeling of nostalgia. For example, as the video Inside a Medicine Cabinet…from the 1960s played, I remembered so many of the products. But more significantly, I remembered people and incidents related to them. One grandmother used Ponds. My other grandmother had a can of Cashmere Bouquet. Mom kept a tin of Sucrets or a box of Luden’s Cough Drops in her purse all winter during cold season.

The episode Summer Roadtrips reminded me of several childhood vacations, but also how much has changed! Didn’t have iPads or phones with videos or games to keep restless kids quiet; had to be creative with road games (License Plate Game or I Spy, etc.), books, and the like. Also didn’t have to be strapped down like a mummy! I spent many hours lying on the back ledge of our ’67 LeSabre!

Then there are some humorous episodes that emphasize the changes in home décor and furnishings. Did your grandparents cover their living room furniture in vinyl to protect the fabric? Maybe they did it only when they knew the grandkids were coming over! Regardless, it was a popular fad back in the day.

Or what about the TV and stereo! Both were huge pieces of furniture that took up a good chunk of the living room or den!

And the shag carpet with the essential rake.

And the wood paneling—some real wood, some fake.

Avocado green…yellow…orange…gold. You could get bathtubs, sinks, toilets, refrigerators, stoves, small appliances—you name it!—in these trendy colors.

And what about clothing fashions? Remember leisure suits? Or big bell-bottom pants? Or getting “dressed up” for just about everything special—church…going out for dinner…attending a concert…traveling by train or plane?

Today’s 20-something young people look back at those times and just shake their heads.

On the more humorous side, INSANE Products…1970s recalls some strange products. Wonder Sauna Hot Pants? An “Egg Cuber”? Mr. Microphone? Mood Shirts (and Rings)? A Pet Rock?

What all of these Recollection Road videos clearly display is that things change. I suppose even the production of the videos highlights change, doesn’t it? How did our grandparents reflect on the changes of their lifetimes? Certainly not by watching YouTube videos!

On some occasions while watching an episode, I think of the old adage, “The more things change, the more they stay the same!”

Yes, there’s seemingly no end to cataloging the superficial changes in culture, society, technology, and so on. But so much stays the same.

The fact of superficial change stays the same, doesn’t it? So, too, the lamentation of some of those changes.

My parents lamented the changes occurring in my youth…their parents did the same…as did theirs. And I lament the changes in this generation. (I’m not, by the way, suggesting there’s no good cause for some of that lamentation!)

What also stays the same are the underlying causes of much of that change. Sometimes it’s simply dissatisfaction with the way things are. We can be a quite discontent people, can’t we?

Change can be motivated by a desire to improve a real or perceived deficiency. Or by a desire for profit. Or to fill a void—again, real or perceived. Or to influence society—or a segment thereof—in a particular direction.

It also occurs to me that with all of the changes of the past six decades, more serious matters remain the same.

I grew up in an era of rebellion and unrest: political protests, assassinations (2 Kennedys and a King), moral turbulence, sexual revolution, cultural upheaval, spiritual agnosticism, war and rumors of war.

Watch the news lately?

The thing is, it doesn’t matter what era you look at, there will be a plethora of changes from the previous era, but mankind remains fundamentally the same.

We’ve come a long way since traveling only on foot or on the back of an animal. But the violence and brutality and rebellion and hatred and anger and covetousness and discontentment and neglect and sloth and selfish ambition and prejudice and injustice and….change only in their forms of expression.

Why?

Because our condition as a human race remains fundamentally unchanged.

“All we, like sheep, have gone astray,” notes the prophet Isaiah. “We have turned, every one of us, to his own way….”

“All have sinned and come short of the glory of God,” explains the Apostle Paul.

Which leads to the universal, unchanged fate declared in Eden. God warned that should Adam violate His clear command, “you shall surely die.”

And so it remains unchanged: “The wages of sin is death…”

But what has also remained unchanged is the good news of the gospel!

Jesus, the Savior we so desperately need, remains unchanged.

“Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever,” declares the writer of Hebrews (13:8). 

And His offer of salvation hasn’t changed, either!

“…the one who comes to me I will by no means cast out,” He promises (John 6:37)

“…Whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have everlasting life!”  – John 3:16

“…Whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved!” – Romans 10:13

Now catch this. All of man’s best efforts to effect deep, true, lasting change for the betterment of self and society come up short. They fail to change our fundamental nature.

BUT the one who comes to the Savior in repentant faith discovers a profound effect. He is made new—from the inside out!

“If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. All this is from God….” — 2 Corinthians 5:17

Now that is change that leaves nothing the same!